Struggling to keep your New Year’s resolutions? Neuroscience can explain why

“New Year, new me.” This popular saying, so common at the beginning of the year, invokes a certain optimistic spirit, a conviction that every new cycle opens up new opportunities. It also invites us to take stock of the previous year’s achievements and setbacks, and often prompts us to make ambitious resolutions aimed at making the this year better than the last.

However, a few weeks into the new year, many of us might be finding that our resolutions are already falling by the wayside. We’re left wondering what became of all our good intentions, and why our willpower isn’t enough to stay the course. However, truth be told, willpower easily falters. But why?

Neuroscience can provide some answers. There are even studies which have shown that just by understanding the neural mechanisms that drive willpower, we we can help to improve it.

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Willpower needs a reward

Willpower refers to the ability to direct one’s actions towards a desired end, usually in opposition to what might seem most immediately urgent or tempting. It enables us to overcome obstacles and achieve our goals, even if this means expending effort for no immediate reward.

The feeling of reward is key to understanding willpower. It is deeply ingrained in our brains, as it prompts us to repeat actions that have benfitted us in some way in the past.

One of the main areas of the brain involved here is the striatum, which is activated by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is involved in a number of mental functions, including motivation, pleasure, attention, optimism, reward, and so on. It is, in essence, what makes us achieve our goals.

However, whenever we use our willpower to do something other than what is easiest or most pleasurable or in the moment – such as eating a salad instead of a burger, or a piece of fruit instead of a cake – we activate the anterior cingulate cortex. This brain area has several functions, including the management of rational behaviours like inhibition, anticipation of rewards, decision making, empathy and managing emotions.

The cingulate cortex is directly connected to the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in planning future actions and conscious control of behaviour, including determination and willpower. It is also linked to the amygdala, which is involved in generating emotions. All of these areas also influence the striatum, which, as mentioned above, is responsible for generating sensations of reward.

Let’s look at an example. When we make a resolution – whether on New Year’s Day or any other day in the calendar – we use the prefrontal cortex to plan it, and to maintain the determination to achieve it. We make the decision with the cingulate cortex, which inhibits other actions that would derail it and takes control of emotions to keep us focused and rational.

Lastly, and this is the important part, we look forward to the ultimate, long-term reward – this might be, for instance, losing a few kilos, lowering your cholesterol, or boosting your self esteem.

However, it’s not always that simple. The anticipated reward – which is what, at the cerebral level, allows us to maintain our attention and interest – is a long way off, while the constant allure of more immediate pleasures becomes stronger and stronger.

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Without proper motivation, willpower is nothing

Willpower alone is no match for immediate pleasure or convenience – we also need motivation to stick it out. Motivation is an internal state that activates, directs and maintains behaviour towards particular goals or ends. Motivation is itself a source of reward and pleasure, and is related to other mental faculties such as optimism.

Motivation also depends on dopamine – the higher the levels of dopamine in the brain, the less effort we have to put into pursuing a far-off, long-term goal. If we can keep dopamine levels up, the desire for the future reward wins out over more immediate pleasures.

Of course, not everyone displays the same levels of willpower, and these differences are governed by two factors. The first is genetic, as the dopamine system is based on the functioning of various genes. Depending on which gene variants we have, its functioning will be more or less efficient.

The second is training and education. Contrary to what many people believe, willpower can be trained, and this is done, quite simply, by using it.

Every time we exert our willpower, we reinforce neural pathways that strengthen the behaviour we are pursuing. The trick is to have rewards that are far enough away that they need some effort to achieve, but which are also close enough to seem attainable.

Another way of working on willpower is through the the TRICK method proposed by Esther Wojcicki to promote personal success, which stresses the importance of the following values: Trust, Respect, Independence, Collaboration and Kindness.

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One day at a time

A lifetime is a long time, and even a year is often too much. If you struggle to keep an annual resolution, try scaling it down – instead of “New Year, new me”, how about “new day, try something new”? This approach can be less stressful, and one of the consequences of stress is that it impairs the rational areas of the brain, making us more likely to succumb to immediate temptations.

As time goes on, your dopaminergic system, anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex can then become gradually more trained, allowing you to extend your resolution into the long term. We can liken this to running – nobody runs a marathon the first day they put on a pair of trainers.